CoreControl Keeping Athletes on the Field

A pair of doctors believe rapidly cooling the body during a workout can be more beneficial to recovery than steroids, and they have the tool to prove it.

Developed at Stanford University, a new hand-held device called CoreControl is becoming known as a way to cool the body rapidly during strenuous activity. Biologists H. Craig Heller and Dennis Grahn researched reasons why the body heats up during exercise and began devising a plan to reverse the rise in body temperature.

"When you get people out there doing two-a-days in July and August, you get fatigued and you're sweating and losing body fluids," said Dr. Bruce Read, President of TSS, the company working to distribute CoreControl. "(CoreControl) is an excellent way to keep your body in control from a core temperature standpoint, and it prevents you from that point of getting overheated."

Labeled as "better than steroids" by Dr. Grahn, CoreControl allows athletes to continue to train without as much down-time due to muscle fatigue. By putting one hand in the device for just a matter of minutes, the core body temperature is cooled to a normal level and, according to Read, can yield 25 to 35 percent better results during a workout or practice. Use of CoreControl allows a man or woman to sweat less, which reduces the loss of body fluids, as well as cramping during an exercise or recovery period.

"CoreControl is a non-evasive way to help remove heat rapidly from the core body by augmenting its natural processes," said Read. "So it's really enhancing the body's ability to dissipate heat, that it naturally would do through the hands, the feet, the forehead -- the natural radiators of the body."

Powered by a rechargeable battery, the athlete places his or her hand inside the unit and a slight vacuum is applied to the palm. The suction is strong enough to keep the arteries open, which allows blood to continue to flow freely, according to Read. Combined with the flow of cold water through the device, the body is rapidly cooled, allowing the body to recover.

At $895 for the hand pod, CoreControl is primarily used by high-level sports programs and professional franchises, but Read believes the system could be easily used in exercise facilities in the future. CoreControl has been used by Army personnel, football and wrestling teams, and even the Pac-12 football champion Stanford Cardinal.

"Subjectively, our players feel better and they feel like they have fresh legs," said JoHan Wang, Director of Athletic Performance for the NBA's Golden State Warriors, one of the teams using CoreControl. "One guy used it between conditioning sessions … he's the oldest player on roster, and we had a couple of drills I honestly didn't think he'd be able to finish. We put him up against one of the rookies, and he absolutely demolished (the younger player)."

Health officials believe the product could serve several off-the-field purposes, too. Dr. Ken Mautner, Sports Medicine Specialist at Emory, believes CoreControl will not only help to rapidly cool the bodies of athletes, but also those who are in danger of other health problems.

"From a stroke point of view, the goal is to cool the body as quickly as possible," he said. "Any portable device that can cool the body quickly is great."

Mautner added he saw no reason to believe CoreControl isn't a safe product: "I would promote it as something with some good research behind it, and it seems to help with heat dangers."

If a family member seeks a slightly-pricier gift for an active loved one this holiday season, CoreControl serves multiple purposes for the casual workout buddy.

"Whether you're 25, 35 or 45, your body just can't do what it could when it was younger," said Read. "And this will continue to allow you to play and practice longer, but even just for work around the house. If you're 65, 70 years old and you want to do gardening or work outside, but it's 95 degrees and 90 percent humidity, this is going to allow you to keep your core body temperature down. It's going to allow you to enjoy the outside activities longer and more often."

While it might not be 95 degrees in the United States for the next couple of months, CoreControl will serve a vital purpose in some gyms as athletes work to recover quicker, and before long, it might be a product seen frequently in weight rooms.